The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation
The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation
The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation
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the Antiquities, which shine with <strong>Jewish</strong> patriotism, than in the War, which is dependent upon<br />
Nicolaus. But the main point is that here as well the dependence of the [192] Antiquities upon<br />
the War could be proven straight from the reworkings [of the text].<br />
<strong>The</strong> second discrepancy between the Antiquities and its source within our section is to<br />
lead us to another area. A short report about Herod’s flight with his next of kin is given in War<br />
263 - 264. <strong>Josephus</strong> took this as the basis for his Ant. 353 - 358, but it was significantly expanded<br />
by an anecdote, which can already be recognized externally as an insertion by virtue of [the<br />
fact] that in it a different situation is presumed in the return march than [is presumed] in the<br />
War and in the surrounding pieces of the Antiquities, which have been extracted from the [War].<br />
Namely, here Herod starts his female relatives upon the march and he himself with his<br />
servants provides cover for their march. He is therefore not to be found with his female<br />
relatives; rather he even defeats his opponents, who are pursuing [him], in several victorious<br />
engagements (War 264 = Ant. 358b). It is different in the intervening segment of the Antiquities:<br />
here Herod does not provide cover for the march of his [relatives] rather he flees together<br />
with them. He even had tremendous fear when his mother’s mule slipped, the entire train<br />
could be affected and halted and he therefore wants to kill himself (355 - 357). <strong>The</strong> insertion<br />
presents us with a miserable hunted mass of fleeing women, children and a few men –<br />
including Herod – the sight of which evokes the deepest pity from those who see them (354 ff.);<br />
defenceless, he exposed himself to his pursuers, whereas the War and correspondingly the<br />
bordering pieces 67 of the Antiquities, in contrast, reveal to us an orderly withdrawal during<br />
which there were even numerous engagements, which were favourable to those withdrawing.<br />
<strong>The</strong>refore it is clearly demonstrated here as well that the War did not condense some common<br />
source, as has always been thought, but rather the Antiquities were expanded by an extraneous<br />
addition. It is still particularly significant that <strong>Josephus</strong> himself sensed what a contradiction<br />
there was gaping between the two versions; for in his description of the subsequent strikes<br />
that Herod dealt as he marched off [193] [<strong>Josephus</strong>] of his own accord adds to Ant. 360 that<br />
Herod was victorious “not as one who is in the most dire straits, but rather just as if he had<br />
prepared himself for the war most splendidly and with the greatest affluence.” This comment,<br />
67 It is not difficult to determine the margins of the source to either side; the insertion from the<br />
additional source [Nebenquelle] begins with ἐδίωκεν τὴν ἐπὶ Ἰδουμαίας (353b) and ends with<br />
ποιούμενος τὴν πορείαν (358b). Both sources were immediately assimilated into each other<br />
169